For the purpose of environmental protection in Himachal Pradesh, the new Electric Vehicle Policy came into force from Thursday. State Government Additional Chief Secretary Transport JC Sharma notified the Himachal Pradesh Electric Vehicle Policy 2022. This policy will be applicable for the next five years. According to this policy, the state government will give exemption in road token tax to electric vehicles. Toll tax will not be charged from the electric vehicles of the state and outlying states on the highway as well. Apart from this, exemption will be given in the commercial permit fee as per the notification of the Union Ministry of Surface Transport and Highways. This exemption will be applicable for the period of implementation of this policy i.e. five years. The government has set a target of registering 15 percent electric vehicles by 2025 through this policy. Four model cities have been identified in this policy. These are Shimla, Mandi, Baddi and Dharamsala.
These will have at least one charging station in a grid of one x one kilometer. The state highways will have a charging point on each side after every 25 km and busy national highways will have a charging point on each side after every 50 km. These four model cities will also create a zone each where there is zero emission of gases from vehicles. Where only walking, bicycling or traveling in an electric vehicle will be valid. The state government will use 95 per cent of the funds collected from its Green Tax and Motor Vehicles Act tax compounding fee to roll out electric vehicles during the policy term.
